-->*OFFICIAL: Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge*<--

Quote from www.hothardware.com.
"The GeForce 8700M GT is a decent graphics card and it should provide sufficient power to drive the latest games, especially when paired in SLI, it's a bit disappointing that the current fastest mobile graphics card, the GeForce 8800M GTX, is not an option currently. However, we have it straight from Dell that a GeForce 8800M GTX option will be made available at some point and existing M1730 owners will be offered the option to upgrade for a fee."

Its going to happen, just be patient...
Definately going to keep mine, dont think we have seen this at its best yet.

 

Thank god. THanks for that aeinstein

 

Now, the more important question is. How much is the fee?
and will SLI 8800GTX be available?

 

Excellent news - but the wait is killin me!! lol
Just had a lok at the link - where exactly i sthe article?? Not saying I dont believe you, but just wanted to read it myself.....

To be honest, if the option to upgrade to a SINGLE 512MB 8800m GTX is available Im persornally gonna go for that. SLI would be great, but looking at the lack of driver support etc from Dell, and the current problems I have with SLI, its put me right off. A single 8800 is more powerful then both the 8700m's anyways, so Id probably go for the single card and avoid the headache with SLI!

If the extra cost for a dual card over a single card is small, I will get the SLI. But if the extra fee is large i wont bother.

 

Some good news to share........I hope!

I contacted my account manager at Dell yesterday with some questions about the M1730.

Firstly my DVI to HDMI convertor was not included, so they are sending that out to me.

Secondly I enquired about the poor performance with SLI enabled, and when the 8800mGTX was to be released. My account manager has passed this question on to the relevent people within Dell, and has requested a response from them, so hopefully he will be able to get me some info. I'll let you guys know as soon as I know!

Finally I am missing my Ageia PhysX processor. They are also going to send this out to me. I think they are checking to see if it is a something thats easy enough to install myself or whether they need to send a techy out to do the installation.

Do any of you guys know if its an easy job? If it is I'd rather carefull install it myself rather then have some techy mess things up. Im pretty confident with installations etc, but have never done a PhysX chip before.......

Also are there any current issues with the Ageia processor? Ive heard its not really very useful at the mo, but if they are sending it to me I may as well install it! I dont want to set myself up for more problems though!

 

Link as requested:
Its quite a good review, with strip-down pictures and performance comparison.... its dated 10th December so not too long ago.

http://www.hothardware.com/articles/Dell_XPS_M1730_Mobile_Gaming_Notebook/?page=2

 

cool cheers.
Im hoping they bring it out soon, as soon as it comes I'll be getting my hands on it (hopefully the single card) since Ive had enough of SLI and currently have it disabled anyway, seems to give me better stability and performance.

On another note - I thought that Unreal Tourny 3 and Gears of War used the same graphics engine? If so how come I can run the UT3 demo at max settings and max res perfectly fine, but Gears doesnt seem smooth even at medium settings?

If I can run the UT3 demo at max settings fine, the full game should be the same right? Im thinking of buying it to keep me going for a while until the 8800 comes along......

 

Do you have any issues with your Ageia processor by the way? I should be receiving mine soon since Dell 'forgot' it!

 

No Issues! you'll be glad to hear, it performs very well and is very stable.
Only seen the benefit with GRAW on the Aegia Island Level, explosions moslty.

How did they forget it btw, i thought it was a standard fit in the m1730...also i too dont have the HDMI convertor, is this supplied with all m1730's?

 

You can always set SLI mode to off and use a single card until there are some decent drivers

 

I also thought both were standard.
I wasnt too bothered with the Ageia chip, but when I saw its usually standard I just enquired with Dell and the next thing I know I got a call telling me they will send one out! lol
They need to find out from the corrent people whether its an easy install I can do myself or whether they will send a techy out. So Im just waiting on that.
AT the same time I asked about the convertor, and they said they will send one out as well. Who was I to complain?!!

 

Thats what Im doing t th emoment with the 8700m TBH.
Im going to see what the upgrade fee's are like when the 8800' do actually come along.

Do you think we will get it cheaper since its an upgrade, and will they take the current 8700m card back and give us more of a discount??

 

IS there anything I can install to tell me the FPS in games, but display it on the LCD screen?

 

Take a look a FRAPS

http://www.fraps.com/

I am currently using it. It is was I used in a previous post, where I displayed a screen capture with FPS. FPS will also show on LCD if you set it too.

 

XPS 1730 Bios rev 03 is out on dells website. NO CLUE as to what it updates cause it doesn't list anything

 

It listed it for me, see in Red Bold below:

Fixes and Enhancements

Dell Inc.
Copyright (C) 2007, All Rights reserved.
www.dell.com

BIOS Release Notes

Systems: Dell XPS MXG071 Series
Version: A03
Build Date: 10/30/2007

Fixes:
1. Fixed fan diagnostic failures with certain system configurations.

The BIOS release has been validated on the following operating systems:
1. Microsoft Windows Vista
2. Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2

 

As I was digging around today, I noticed my video cards have 2 different versions of video BIOS.
Card #1 60.84.62.00.06
Card #2 60.84.62.00.07

I would like some feedback as to, if other users display the same or different versions.

I know this system is not a desktop but from previous SLi desktop experience different version of video BIOS spell SLi trouble.

 

^^^
How do I check?

 

Where abouts in the system does the Ageia Physics chip go? Is it an easy installation??

 

1) Open NV control Panel
2) Select Help and system information
3) Cards are noted on the left (GeForce 8700M GT)
4) Select each card to update info on the right
5) Video Bios info is there along with other info on the right

 

Yup, mine are also different just like yours.

 

Cool Thanks

 

I find it surprising that their think of not sending out a tech guy, i rang up to see if i could get a new dvd drive caause my ones playing up and their sending a tech guy to come install that which seems like a waste of time cause its a very easy thing to do but they wouldnt do it any other way

 

^^^
My account manager knows Im quite capable of installing things myself, but I think they will end up sending out a techy TBH. I hope they get back to me soon and let me know though!!

 

Anyone ever used nhancer?

http://www.nhancer.com/

I just strated using it and have gotten some pretty good results on COD4 with it.

1900x1200 running at 53-91 FPS with AA off and specular map off in a 50 multiplayer room; SLi is running a AFR and is defintely working. Only downside was my temp was 87c after about 5min of play using 167.51 drivers

Plan to test with some other games.

 

I've had some good luck with nvidia's latest beta drivers (see sig).

I picked up ~60pts from 169.09 NBF Enhanced to Nvidia Beta 171.16

 

ha haaa haaa... sure in 2009 for like 1200 USD .... you trust hothardware - a site that says "GeForce 8700M GT is a decent graphics card and it should provide sufficient power to drive the latest games" ... what games? PAC MAN?

My M1730 runs latest games in medium settings ... the M1730 Is a MISTAKE!

 

Just picked up Crysis, and COD4. I read COD4 runs pretty well, but I'm bit worried about Crysis.

XPSM1730 - I like the MISTAKE Dell made, and I've read many people here do also. It's not like we don't agree with poor software support, but I hate to see you become a troll. May be it's just time to move on since you returned the system?

 

Hmn. I may try it. It's not like I watch BR often anyways lol.

 

Jeez, Crysis is as expected. I'm going to need some tweak guide on this one-time to google.

COD4 runs very nicely @ 1900x1200 though. Running this on 3007WFP looks alot better than the XBOX on my 47" 1080P LCD tv. (plus I couldn't stand the joystick)

 

What fps do you get in COD4 at that res, ACHILLES??

 

I think it was around 50 to 70's.

It was late night and can't remember exact # though. All I can say is I was quite impressed w/ the numbers.

Crysis like I said though is huge disappointment.

I'll get the COD numbers to ya later. Gotta get ready for work.

 

^^^
was that with SLI enabled also?

 

Yes it was.

Both games had it enabled.

 

I still dont understand why I keep getting crashes within windows itself, when using something like Movie maker etc, when SLI is enabled!!!

 

My music keeps making crackling nouises sometimes. Think it might be the soundcard. Its very annoying. Anyboy else have these problems?

 

Some programs do tend to hang alot in the system. I'm not sure if that's caused by the SLI though.

All my systems run Vistal Ultimate, and programs like 3dmark06 hang/freeze alot for some reason. Don't have problems in game though.

I also have problem w/ movie files(AVI) - when I close the movie, sound kept going for some reason.

 

It is caused by SLI. For me programs like Movie Maker run videos awefully, and then it crashes, whereas with SLI turned off everything in Vista runs smooth and never crashes.

 

Darn it-I want to go back home and play COD4!!!!!!! lol.

Who invented work anyways!!.

 

What the heck is taking Dell so long in releasing the 8800mGTX card for the M1730??

They know they have had lots of complaints about the 8700m's and how they are not enough to run many of the most up to date games etc. Theres tons of complaints on many other forums, including Dells own forum. Their drivers are crap, along with their so called 'rapid driver release' program, which doesnt seem to be so rapid after all.

I just want the powerful laptop I expected, and I want to be able to run the most up to date games at high settings. After all, thats what Dell made their customers think they would be able to do with the M1730 after all.

I reckon the 8800 GPU/s would fix all the problems most people seem to be having, even if it was without an SLI configuration! Come on Dell!!!!



OK, rant over

 

hey ifti seen your videos on youtube there great. Shame they take so long to download. Do you have them in orignal format. Can you PM me so i can download them directly cheers

 

Download seems pretty quick for me.....

Anyways, sorry I dont have the originals any more. However, when I get home I can give you the link to a site which allows you to download a copy of youtube videos to keep locally on your PC, if that would help? You just put in the Youtube address of the video, and it converts it and makes it available for download etc.

 

I know. They are taking their sweet time with this, but I'm not sure when I'll upgrade even they do roll em out.

My guess on price would be more or less than 1k on SLI (which will prolly generate SLI problems again).

I personally wouldn't go for single GPU though. It wouldn't justify our systems size.

 

yea cheers if youo could ifti that would be great thanks.

 

No probs, if I dont get back to you later today PM me to remind me

 

Ur probably right - its best to go for the SLI configuration, as that way you have the choice of using a single GPU or running in SLI. But at least even by using a single GPU we should get better results then the 8700m in SLI!

I'd be tempted to get them quite early on if Dell allows me to upgrade and trade in my 8700m card....

 

Does anyone know the UK phone number for the 'XPS First Class' service??
I want to quiz them on the 8800............

 

Second that!

Given that the m-15x won't ship till Feb 1st, the m-17x prob will take longer again to ship....

I was thinking: will dell (and its owned companies) support two 17" laptops with 8800M's? Seems strange to have almost two identical products on the market from the same owned companies. So that lead me to the conclusion that the M1730 won't be offered in 8800M Sli for a long time, probably after the m-17x has overcharged everyone (a Alienware thing as far as I can see) for Sli's!

Any thoughts? Too much of a conspiracy theory?

 

Call this number 0870 9080800 and just press the button for XPS tech support when it comes around.

I can almost guarantee you they wont have the foggiest idea about the 8800M.

Also I wouldn't expect to see Dell offering this upgrade for a coupe of months, if ever... how many times I've read a company say they will offer something extra at a later date only to go back on it when the time comes.

tom

 

They did have similar program back with XPS gen1. My guess is they will offer it with steep price tag on it.